September 7,

We awoke around 0800 – this was earlier than I thought we would, seeing as how we had just gone to sleep six hours ago!! We got up and about, I looked out and took in our place here. We are on the second floor, overlooking their pool and alcove area. D’Home is a lovely place! We are only here for one night. We have to check out by 1100. So we had our Javas, and packed up our stuff. Jeff went to get our car rental as I finished the packing. Jeff arrived back with the car, we loaded up and checked out.

We headed out. Jeff had found Living World Mall. The mall is on the way to our next place where we will be staying for a week, but we can’t check in until 1400. It was a place for brunch and to spend time until we could check in. The drive is only 12 km (7.5 miles), but it took us almost 30 minutes to drive there. The traffic is like driving in Ho Chi Minh City! It’s a free for all!! Anyway, we finally arrived and went in. We got steps in and then found the food court. We picked a couple of places: Aban Kitchen Steak and Grill- getting a Grill Beef Steak with mushroom gravy, Fries, and Mixed Veggies – which were fresh – cut carrots, peas, green beans, and corn; and Charlies Macaroni- getting Chicken and Cheese, with level two spiciness – out of five. The total bill for both was 106,000 IDR, which is $6.11. (16,500 IDR = $1, back to crazy large conversions). The food was good, and hit the spot for us both. I’m glad we did not get a higher level of spice on the mac and cheese though!! After we finished we stopped at another stall, Orlena-lycious, and bought some chocolate brownies. We had four mini sized ones: a Berry-Almond topped one (the best for both of us); a Choc. Chip Cookie topped one; a Gluten-free one with walnuts; and a Biscoff topped one. These cost us 33,000 ($2.02). After that we got more, much needed steps. Lastly we went to the Grocery store here and bought a few things. Loaded down we went back to our car and left the mall.

The “car” we have rented is a white Suzuki Wagon R. It’s called a ‘kei car’ which translates to light vehicle. It is like a cross between a hatchback and a very small minivan. Anyway, it took us about an hour to drive the last 20 km (12.4 miles)! Still scary driving, and the roads are narrow, barely allowing for two way traffic. If a car is parked on the side of the road, two cars cannot pass each other. We arrived and found the place – it is just off the main, crazy, narrow road.
We were warmly greeted and showed us where we could park, which was an alley quite a ways from our place. We unloaded and settled in. This place is situated in the middle of a temple-like garden. It is so beautiful and peaceful even with the road noise! Jeff and I took a small much needed nap/siesta time!

A couple of hours later we walked to find the local place, we had scouted out. The place was called Wiri’s Eatery. We ordered a Fresh Garden salad with lettuce, carrot, tomato, cucumber, avocado, and dragon fruit with a passion fruit dressing; Balinese Ayam Timbungan, which is a soup of chicken & spices cooked in bamboo, served with grilled coconut rice and a condiment of crispy melinjo; and Banh Mi Rice Bowl, which was a rice bowl with stir-fried pork belly, onion, peppers, and scrambled egg. The food was presented well, very good, and yummy!! 😋 I had an iced ginger tea and Jeff had an Arak mojito. We paid 251,763 IDR, or $15.26.

We went back to our place and talked with my mother. We excused ourselves from Zoom with our church and went to bed by 2040!